Category Archives: ephilanthropy

Why Organization Structure Matters for Online Success (13NTC Preview)

On Saturday morning, April 13 in Minneapolis I will be moderating a session at the Nonprofit Technology Conference on Why Organization Structure Matters for Online Success (and why traditional departments don’t work).  I’ve just received final presentations from my panelists from two nonprofits: Rusty Burwell of American Lung Association and Mark Pothier of Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and from two firms that serve nonprofits:  Ryan Davis of Blue State Digital and Ted Fickes of Bright+3.

Here’s a brief preview of what we’ll be discussing:

  1. What are common characteristics of nonprofits which succeed online?
  2. In additional to structure, how important is organizational culture?
  3. If you can’t restructure, what else can you do to improve the results of your online campaigns
  4. How does the size of your nonprofit affect your digital results?
  5. What steps can you take to break down silos and improve collaboration at your organization?

I’ve asked mjy speakers to keep their presentations brief so we can engage in an interactive conversation with each other and with the audience.   If you’re planning to be at next month’s conference (which is always great), please attend my session.

More 2012 Blog Highlights

Continuing from last week’s post, these are topics I wrote about on Nonprofit Bridge in 2012:

Wishing you a healthy and joyful 2013!  Hope to see many of you at next year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference in Minneapolis in April, where I’ll be leading a panel on Why Organization Structure Matters for Online Success.

Nonprofit Bridge 2012 Highlights

As we prepare for 2013, here are some 2012 blog highlights:

More 2012 highlights next week and a look forward at 2013.  Happy new year!

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

You will get the best results from your email marketing campaigns if you segment your recipients, rather than sending the same messages to everyone.  Start simply here.  It’s also helpful to use audience personas to understand who you are communicating with.

Nonprofit superstar Beth Kanter has a new book coming out, Measuring the Networked Nonprofit.  If you’re in NYC, join the NYC 501 Tech Club on Oct. 11 to hear Beth and co-author KD Paine talk about how your organization can track its social media efforts.

As an update to my post on Blackbaud’s recent decision to retire Common Ground, listen to a recording of a town hall meeting which discussed many customer concerns.   Unfortunately, due to many products with similar names, distinguishing exactly which products are affected has been very confusing.  (Addendum 10-2-12 – Read this thoughtful post by ex-Blackbaud employee, Judi Sohn.)

Do you have a strategy for reaching baby boomers and seniors, two groups that are using social media in rising numbers?  This free webinar this week can help.  Also, here are some interesting statistics on the state of social media marketing and slides from a recent Big Duck presentation to help convince your nonprofit CEO that social networks aren’t just a passing fad.

Finally, if few of your posts on Twitter seem to get retweeted, try these tips.

How Well Do You Play With Others?

kids playing together by Max MayorovThis week, a friend of mine was invited for a group interview for a prospective job, but not simply to meet many staff members but where multiple candidates would be interviewed together.  While this seemed unusual, my guess is that the organization wanted to find out how well she would work with others – not only whether she had the skills to do the job.

Also this week, See3 Communications and Darim Online announced plans to merge, as detailed here.  Mergers aren’t that unusual, but I was intrigued by how Darim explained how it had consistently collaborated with other great nonprofit organizations such as Big Duck and Idealware to enable its supporters to succeed in digital communications before deciding to join with See3.

Many of us dread mergers, worrying about how it might affect our current job.  But nonprofits can do so much more by collaborating rather than by competing.  One way to get started is to explore Nonprofit Collaboration Resources at the Foundation Center.

Most of us have been in the situation of having a job fail not because we couldn’t do it, but because we didn’t work well with the existing team.  (This is why it’s so important to meet as many people as you can during the interview process.)  For nonprofits, it’s equally important to work together with other organizations with compatible missions.  After all, it’s really about serving our clients and furthering our cause;  that’s why we’re in nonprofit.

While my friend’s ‘group interview’ is a bit unorthodox, I hope she uses it as an opportunity to show how well she can ‘play with others.’  And good luck to Darim & See3!  I know people at both organizations and they’ve done great work for our community.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

Should we focus on one website that can be used effectively on a desktop, tablet or phone?  Usability expert Jakob Nielsen suggests developing a separate mobile website. But Smashing Magazine disagrees, saying We Shouldn’t Make Separate Mobile Websites.  My take: if you have the in-house expertise or can afford to hire outside experts,  take a responsive design approach so that your display adjusts to browser screen size.  (If you’re in NYC, learn how at this free event at Noble Desktop on Sep. 19.)

At least for now, mobile apps can be more user friendly than a mobile website.  If you decide to develop a mobile app, here’s some tips to get started.  My take – unless you have a compelling reason for an app, focus on the mobile website first.

On your website and on social media, it’s all about engagement.  Here’s 37 Tips to Engage Your Website Visitors, 27 Ways to Increase Engagement on Your Facebook Page and Better Facebook Engagement in 5 Easy Lessons.  Reminder – if your Facebook fans don’t interact with your posts (likes, comments, shares), they eventually won’t see your updates.  (This shouldn’t be too surprising – less than 20% of your email subscribers probably open your enewsletters – but at least they receive it in their inbox.)

Want to make sure your offline and online communications are in synch.  Start by creating an editorial calendar.  (It doesn’t have to be fancy – MS Excel will work fine.)  Then reuse content in both your enewsletters and social media posts.

It’s usually much easier to keep your current donors than to acquire new contributors. Here’s why donors become ex-donors and some ways to keep them connected with your cause and your organization.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

M&R Strategic Services hosted an informative webinar last week on Facebooks metrics and strategy.  Listen to the recording or read highlights.  And if you haven’t heard, watch this 2:45 video about M&R joining forces with Watershed.

How skilled is your organization in developing content for the increasing number of online (and offline) communication channels?  Here’s 12 Ways to Repurpose Old Content into New.  And how well do you curate content from other sources.  Take Nten’s free webinar next week to learn How Content Curation Builds Staff Expertise and Reduces Information Overload.

Do you know that the most effective messages about your nonprofit’s impact don’t come directly from your organization?  Read about 10 Messengers Who Are More Effective Than You.

As a follow-up to my recent post on how social media can help your nonprofit, here’s a step-by-step guide with many great links, as well as How to Manage Social Media at Your Nonprofit.

Still think that only youngsters are computer savvy?  Learn how more than half of adults 65 and older are online in this report on Older Adults and Internet Use, and in this summary.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

The million dollar question – how can you get your social media community to engage more with your organization?  Here are 8 tips for Facebook and a basic social media checklist, especially useful if you’re preparing for a big event.  And here’s how to create an organizational social media culture (e.g. do you have a social media policy?)

When you post is sometimes as important as what you post.  In addition to scheduling updates through tools such as HootSuite, Timely and Buffer, Facebook is now allowing page administrators to schedule posts.

Per Heather Mansfield’s advice on common mistakes nonprofits make in social media, you must take the time to view your organization’s website on smart phones and tablets.  Then work on optimizing your emails for small screens and consider adapting a responsive design for your website.

As a follow-up to my recent post on Blackbaud Acquiring Convio, consider this take on how they should handle such a huge portfolio of software platforms.

If you’re still struggling to create an integrated approach to your online and offline outreach, here’s why nonprofits must tear down their marketing silos.  (Hint – think about how your supporters see your organization, not how you do from inside.)  And offer your Executive Director these 5 Tips on How to Engage Online.

If you’re in NYC, perhaps I’ll see you at one of these upcoming events:

An Open Letter to Blackbaud and Convio – Now One Company

It’s official – Blackbaud has cConvio - a Blackbaud Companyompleted the acquisition of Convio.  When these plans were announced in January, I was concerned, as I explained in this blog post.  It wasn’t that long ago that Blackbaud acquired Kintera;  now only one major vendor remains.

My wish list for the combined organization:

  1. Blackbaud CEO Marc Chardon’s message mentions that integration between products such as the Raiser’s Edge and Luminate Online is high on the priority list.  But let’s not stop there – most nonprofits use products from multiple vendors, and need help in integrating data between them.  This requires a commitment to open APIs and in freely connecting to other platforms.
  2. Blackbaud now has a dizzying array of software options, some which seem to duplicate each other.  Help us understand what’s best for our organizations’ needs and then recommend the appropriate solution – even if it’s not a Blackbaud product.
  3. Be respectful of the talented Convio staff and help them integrate into Blackbaud with a minimum of pain.  Mergers are rarely easy.

Convio founder Vinay Bhagat chose not to move on to Blackbaud and left us with this inspiring message.  Fortunately, most of Convio’s management has already been integrated into the new organization.  Marc, as you have promised, show us how the combined company will help our nonprofits raise more money, engage our constituents and implement successful multi-channel campaigns.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

According to the recently released 2012 Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report, the nonprofits that have been most successful have a clear strategy for social media, management support and have dedicated social media staff.   The average size of an organization’s Facebook (8,317) and Twitter (3,290) communities continues to grow yet few nonprofits are raising funds from social media.  Download your free copy.

(To kick start fundraising results, it will be interesting to see if development departments start to play a larger part in managing social networks – currently it’s usually marketing / communication that’s in charge.)

If you decide to go outside your organization for social media help, ask these 7 questions to anyone you’re considering hiring.  (My take – it’s always preferable to assign this work to a staff person who is more familiar with your nonprofit.)  And here are 10 things you may be doing wrong with social media.

Have you noticed the larger photos on Facebook’s mobile application?  Wonder where they got this idea (see new kid on the block Pinterest).

Blackbaud’s webinar series today included an important reminder that work on your website doesn’t stop after the redesign.  Websites must continue to evolve and most importantly,.must always have fresh content to keep your constituents coming back.  Need ideas?  Here are 58 ways to create great content.

In addition to checking out how your website looks on phones, how about tablets?  See 11 Nonprofit Websites That Look Great on iPads.  And what about your email messages?  Here’s how to optimize mail for mobile phones.

Finally, if you don’t have a specific campaign to recruit monthly donors, read this.